ThermoElectric Coolers (TECs)

I noticed that there was some talk about TECs on another thread, so I thought I might start this one in hopes of creating a resource on the topic. I personally know very little about them, but I'm sure that others here do know a great deal.

Here's my TEC I got off an older computer. If anyone knows what I should use to run it in volts and mA, I might be able to use it for something good.

Any information about DIY TECs, or building them from scratch, I'd love to hear about, cuz I'd rather build something than buy it anyway.

That little thing you got there looks GREAT!!

Try hooking it up to a 6V lantern battery or any 6V supply. Switching supply will give you better results in terms of not keeping the thing on constantly. Try and put a small drop of water on the surface and power it up, if the water freezes, then you have it hooked up to cool the top side, if it evaporates, then you have to switch the battery terminals.

This thing is sparking my interest because your picture makes it seem like the top side is copper rather than ceramic. WHICH IS GOOD!! The seals on the edge are also great because they give you good heat separation without compromising. They also seem like they'd do a great job of keeping the condensation out of the inside of the TEC to protect it in continuous run mode. If you get it working nicely for a while, slap a nice diode with an AixiZ module on there and turn up the power... if it's cold enough (but not too cold to create condensation on the lens) you'd have a laser that might be able to do 200mW CW with no duty cycle (if the diode can support that much heat dissipation ).

Good luck, I'd love to hear and see more of this. Nice find falchionsmight;
DDL

Hi falchionsmight,

I am still playing with mine. I received my arctic silver adhesive yesterday and glued it onto the heat sink. I still have a ways to go. I am not completely certain how I am going to mount the module to the peltier. It does seem that the diode puts out more power when cooled, with the same amount of power going to it. It will be nice when I have a meter to confirm these things..lol. Once I get it going I will post some more updates. That sure is a nice unit you have. It should be fairly easy to work with.

That's the TEC I am setting up. Yes it has a copper side bonded to the ceramic.
I machined a brass collar with a flat side to hold the Aixiz module . The brass collar will be A5'ed to the copper.
5 volts applied draws about an amp and I hope that's enough. The more current, the more heat to get rid of.

Mike

5 volts should be ample. You will freeze the diode...lol. Even 3 volts keeps it at least at room temp. If it gets too hot at 1 amp, just drop the voltage a bit.

BTW, I sent you a PM on CPF explaining everything I had noticed using a CPU heat sink and fan.

Gazoo --

I found the mail --- Yes, I also got one of those small two stage TEC's. I want to use this old computer TEC to find what cooling can do before I use the small one in a small project. I probably should have gotten several of those little units.
I ordered my A5 adhesive last week but still no glue delivered. I'm almost ready to machine something else to hold it to the cold plate.

Mike

some of the lower powered TEC'S are rated for 15 volts at 4 amps, so any power over that should be good. they are very fun to play with, but be careful with moisture getting into the elements, they can explode! just remember, peltiers don't create coldness, they just transfer heat from one side, to the other, in a very inneficient way.

Daedal, conviently the TECs leads are correct. The heat sink gets hot and the copper part (which used to have some thermal compound on it from where it attached to a G4 processor (I think it was a G4, might have been a G3 processor...) I'm having difficulty writing this post because I'm watching something about light on the Science Channel (who could blame me for being distracted, it's LIGHT! And everyone here loves light, right? lol).


Anyway, it seems like if I put some volts on this TEC, I'll be able to keep my diode pretty cold, it hasn't frozen any water yet, but it gets very cold. I'm charging a 6.8 V battery (I think it's 6.8 V, it's kinda smudged on that part of the label), it came out of a 1 million candle power flashlight, and it got dropped a week or so ago, so now it's a big rechargeable battery!

I think I'm going to start using some thermal compound and just setting the laser diode in a way that keep it cool, but can be changed and removed quickly. I'll keep you all posted on what I do with my TEC and my diode.

What's a good place to get TECs, since I've got some diodes coming to me from SenKat's latest group buy, and I'd love to cool a few of the lasers I plan to build. Good luck to everyone on their TEC adventures.

Daedal, I can't wait to see what kind of switching circuit you'd use for something like this, your driver circuit is so wonderful, I'm just constantly impressed by your electronics skills.

Mike,
I understand, you have a TEC like the one falchionsmight has. I thought you were talking about the ones we got. Sorry about that.

I found a link that's pretty cool, or at least seems pretty cool to me. I was looking up TECs mostly to find a good deal on them, and to see what was out there. I saw some that had holes in them, and I thought "What the heck are the holes for..." and to my utter surprise, they're for Laser Diodes ;D I didn't know they made such things! I don't know what kind of price they're asking for them, but here's a link. (it always kinda scares me when they don't list their prices anywhere, and want you to email them for anything you might need from them... don't know why, it just seems kinda odd). I just thought I'd share what I found.


http://www.ferrotec.com/products/thermal/modules/multiHole.php

That's pretty cool
I wonder how much they cost :

falchionsmight said:

I found a link that's pretty cool, or at least seems pretty cool to me. I was looking up TECs mostly to find a good deal on them, and to see what was out there. I saw some that had holes in them, and I thought "What the heck are the holes for..." and to my utter surprise, they're for Laser Diodes ;D I didn't know they made such things! I don't know what kind of price they're asking for them, but here's a link. (it always kinda scares me when they don't list their prices anywhere, and want you to email them for anything you might need from them... don't know why, it just seems kinda odd). I just thought I'd share what I found.


http://www.ferrotec.com/products/thermal/modules/multiHole.php

Click to expand...

HOLY.... I NEED one!!

NICE FIND!!

Thanx;
DDL

I assume the TEC plugs into the motherboard instead of the processor cooling fan.
That would mean it will be 12v.
You could use a PC power supply quite happily and if you look around you can get fan controllers that use a pot to regulate the power to the fan, or in this case the TEC.
You would have infinite control over the power to it.
If you come across a setting that is perfect, hold a multimeter across it and see what voltage you have and make a battery bank up to the same voltage or use one of those variable voltage wall warts.

That's a pretty good way to look at it Evilution. I hadn't thought of that (seems pretty obvious in hind-sight though, lol). It might also run off 5 V though... I could probably just hook up the motherboard to a power supply, and see what it does. It seems to work on 2.4 V, Water at least will condense on it. I'm waiting on my flashlight battery to charge to see what it does on 6 volts. I found out I was using the wrong transformer wall-plug, I guess charging at what it should be charged at is a pretty good idea (good thing I was playing with charging a battery that I think might be dead anyway, and not the proper battery ).

What's the verdict on buying lots of 10 TECs off Ebay? Is there something I should look for specifically when working with Lasers? for example, what does the wattage on the TEC mean to me, when I'm building a laser cooling system? They seem to all be the same price, basically $50.00 shipped, but the wattage varies on them, so that's got me stumped. Here's one of the auctions:

http://cgi.ebay.com/10X-Brand-New-9...oryZ4660QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I think I'd rather have some spares to play with, in case I need them for other things, so buying them like this might be good for me. I might end up only needing 5, so if someone would want to split the cost with me, and get half of them, I'd be game for that. PM me if that interests you.

Daedal, I'm glad I could find something that hadn't be known already, lol. It's a pleasure to find something useful for you, you've done so much for me, it's nice to give back a bit. I wonder if they'd send you a "sample one" for testing, you've got so many DIY lasers, you'd be perfect for giving them a review of it...

I used to sell lots of 10 TECs on eBay. What are you looking for? I have a bunch of TECs still in stock that I may be able to sell you.

how much for 1 and a driver if you have 1 just to cool a GB diode and possibly a 1w 808nm diode. by preference i would like a heat sink for it too